


Time's Arrow

by jessejackreyes



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ages are a little weird because time travel, Angry dragons, Angst, Blackwatch Hanzo, Blackwatch Jesse McCree, Fluff, Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, Liberal Use of Dragon Magic, M/M, Noodle Dragons, Revenge, Second Chances, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel Fix-It, angry hanzo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 05:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12742122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessejackreyes/pseuds/jessejackreyes
Summary: A year ago Hanzo lost everything that gave his life meaning. He left Overwatch shortly thereafter, seeking revenge. But, when a strange Omnic shows up and offers him his revenge on a silver platter, Hanzo finds himself caught up in the robot's strange plan and given a unique opportunity. He has a second chance to make things right, to save the people he loves and nothing is going to stop him, if only he could figure out how to do it.





	Time's Arrow

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I got stuck in my head while working on other things. I wanted to write up a prologue of sorts that sets up the concept, to see if anyone was interested at all. If people like the premise and stuff, I will work harder to continue this story. It's a bit weird, but in the end should satisfy people who want angst and fluff alike.

It seemed fitting that the sky had opened up with a near torrential downpour on today of all days. The large tree provided no protection against the freezing rain, not that he sought any. Instead, he simply kneeled in silent mourning. He had no more tears of his own to shed, for tears required a heart and he had lost that on this very day a year ago. The rain would have hidden his tears anyway, if he had managed any, but, in it he took some solace. The sky grieved for the fallen in his place, rain falling in place of tears, lightning and thunder screaming out for all to hear of the tragedy and injustice that had happened here.

 

Soaked from head to toe, he honored the fallen, those left behind, as best he could. He wanted to speak of the things that had happened since that day, the things he had done. He wanted to tell their spirits of his progress. But, sorrow and pain held his tongue. Instead, he silently asked forgiveness for his failures, for failing them, knowing that he did not deserve it. He was content to kneel here all day, even in the chill of the rain, where he remembered them, remembered him. This was his day of mourning, a break from his crusade for a short moment, until his hunt continued.

 

The sound of approaching footsteps pulled him out of his reverie. They were loud, practically booming towards him despite the roaring wind and pouring rain. Whoever was coming wanted to be heard as they approached. They did not want to surprise him. His hands shifted to grab his bow where it had been lain on the ground and he waited to see what this mystery guest would do.

 

“You are a difficult man to find Hanzo Shimada,” A mechanical voice called out, footsteps ending a dozen feet behind him.

 

“And you are very bold to bother me knowing who I am,” Hanzo replied, body unmoving.

 

“Yes, I apologize for interrupting you during such a difficult time,” The voice called out softly. “But, this was my best bet for finding you and I could not waste it,” He tensed as the Omnic spoke, but did not attack, not yet.

 

“An assassin wouldn’t have announced his presence so loudly,” The question and accusation clear in his harsh tone, challenging the main to explain himself or suffer the consequences.

 

“I am here as a friend, offering something that I believe you want,” The voice replied calmly.

 

“Spit it out then,” Hanzo snapped. This Omnic was trying his patience already, interrupting his mourning was not a smart move for anyone.

 

“In four days time the Talon agent known as Widowmaker will be transferred to a facility in Romania where she will undergo an intense procedure that will leave her hospitalized and helpless for at least three days,”

 

His grip tightened on his bow and he spun around rapidly, facing the Omnic, arrow at the ready, trained right where it's heart would be. Whoever this person was they did not flinch at the weapon poised to end their life. The only movement was the fluttering of the Omnic’s cloak in the strong wind.

 

“Who are you?” It was a demand, not a question.

 

The strange Omnic reached into his cloak, Hanzo’s fingers itching to end it’s life if it made even the tiniest of hostile movements. Instead, he procured a small card and proffered it forward. They stood frozen in place, card held forward and arrow ready to fire. The moment held for what felt like several minutes before Hanzo reluctantly lowered his bow and grabbed the card, briefly examining the contents. It was a strange business card to say the least.

 

_ ER-45M-US _

_ Enemy of Talon _

_ Among other things _

 

“Most call me 45,” It spoke. “I’m a friend,”

 

“What is the cost of this information?” He asked, wary of the actual intentions of this so-called friend.

 

“Nothing,” Hanzo raised an eyebrow at the claim. “We want to get rid of many of the same people,” 45 added by way of explanation. “Getting rid of the sniper and damaging that base helps me. We both get something out of this,”

 

“What do I get exactly?” Hanzo asked guardedly.

 

“Revenge,” 

 

The thoughts and feelings came unbidden. The dragons beneath his skin vibrating with approval at the thought of killing the spider that had taken his mate, had taken Jesse away from them. Sorrow at the memory turned to rage as his dragon’s manifested in all their glory, coiling around their master egging him on. Urging him to act, to seek the woman out and consume her.

 

“You wish to avenge those you have lost don't you?” For a moment all of the rage he felt turned towards the Omnic at it’s words. He took two steps forward before he regained control of himself, remembering that 45 is the one who knew, or at least claimed to know where the sniper was.

 

“Where?” Hanzo spoke with three voices at that very moment, all of the same mind. If this was a trap they would kill everybody there and seek out 45 to pay it back, if it was the truth, they could not pass up this opportunity. The Omnic held out another card, this one with coordinates and a time on it.

 

“Her treatment is scheduled to start at that time,” Hanzo grabbed the card and stomped off rapidly, the purpose of all three of them clear at that moment. As he retreated the Omnic shouted after him over the storm. “When you are seeking a new way to make things right, come find me. I can give you something better than simple revenge,”

 

Hanzo turned back to where the figure had been, confused by such a strange claim, but the Omnic had disappeared after it’s speech. He would wonder about that later. Now he had someone to pay a visit to.

 

____________________________________

 

It was almost disappointingly easy to assault the Talon base when he found it. Their outer security fell quickly and quietly to his arrows, the people inside faring little better. When they finally noticed him and reacted it was far too late. They did not have the man or firepower necessary to stop the scion of the Shimada clan in all of his fury. Anyone who did not fall to him was torn to shreds by rampaging dragons. 

 

He had lost count of how many Talon grunts he and his dragons had slain by the time they reached sub basement three. There were guards amongst the doctors and nurses on the staff for this floor; they were easily dispatched. The medical staff itself could not really resist. A year ago, with Jesse by his side, he would probably have felt bad or reconsidered killing these people, not that they necessarily deserved it. That felt like a lifetime ago. Now, they screamed and begged, but they were devoured all the same.

 

The trail of future corpses eventually led him to what he sought. Hanzo was not quite prepared for the pitiful sight that awaited him. The woman he knew as Widowmaker was clearly not here for some surgery or simple treatment. She was tied down to a cold metal table tightly, more devices than seemed reasonable attached to her and chirping away for some reason or another. A strange unlabeled fluid was being dripped into her arm. She also appeared to be entirely conscious and in pain, aware of what was going on around her.

 

He killed the people attending her. They seemed more like torturers than doctors. Regardless, they died like all the rest, leaving Hanzo alone with Jesse’s murderer. He felt a great many things at that moment: disappointment at how easy this was, righteous anger and even a strange calm as he stared down at the defenseless terrorist. 

 

He remembered hearing from someone back in Overwatch the tragic story of Amelie Lacroix. The state he found her in seemed to prove that what had been said was true. She was taken against her will and worked for them only because of what they had done to her. He felt not a shred of pity or sympathy for the woman; there would be no mercy. He had lost all semblance of such things when he watched Jesse died, when his heart shattered.

 

Angry snarling filled the room as two great dragons made their presence known. They were as hungry for this as Hanzo was himself. He had dreamed of nothing but his loss and avenging that loss since that day. He had left the rest of Overwatch when they would not facilitate his crusade. The death and destruction he wrought against the organization that stole everything from him was the only thing that brought him even a modicum of satisfaction. He could only imagine how good this was going to feel.

 

“There is no pain, no torture that you have ever felt that will compare to what you are about to experience,” There was no true guarantee that she could even understand him right now, though that did not deter him speaking. They descended upon her with a roar that shook the building. There was normally a single mercy for those that found themselves the victims of these dragon’s fangs and that was that while painful, their deaths were quick.

 

Hanzo watched with less interest than he had expected as Jesse’s murderer was devoured slowly and painfully in front of him. She struggled against her chains, screams muffled. The various monitors fluctuating wildly. Time passed quickly, Hanzo turning to leave as they finished their task here, their vengeance accomplished. His dragons joined him as he set about to destroy the rest of the base while he was here. He was here, in part, to raze it to the ground.

 

He was gone by the time the explosions leveled the facility. The city responded quickly to the conflagration, though it was no simple fire to control or put out. The sounds faded in the distance behind him as he made his way back to his safehouse, not allowing himself to collect his thoughts until the doors closed behind him and he was in some semblance of safety. 

 

Less than an hour before he settled down on his bed with a bottle of sake had seen Hanzo exacting painful revenge on the woman who had taken everything he cared about. She had suffered. She was dead. He had been dreaming of this day for the past year. Despite all of that, he did not feel fulfilled or satisfied. All he could feel was that same hollowness that had consumed him the moment he watched the light drain from Jesse’s eyes. This was supposed to change things somehow. But, in the end, it did not bring his beloved back, so what was the point?

  
  


_______________________________

 

Hanzo was not entirely sure what it was that made him get into contact with 45. But, less than a week after the incident in Romania, saw him finding contact information on the back of the business card he was handed and agreeing to meet with the omnic, based out of the United States. The journey brought him landing to LAX within the day. He had only been here once before, when he was much younger, but he was use to the busy airport and the obnoxious crowds. He gathered his luggage, carrying his bow, and he walked swiftly across the terminal, searching for whoever was supposed to pick him up. IT was more difficult to ignore the crowd, the noise, while he was scanning it, but he managed as best he could to put it in the back of his mind.

 

“Greetings,” A voice called out to him as he exited the terminal building.

 

“I did not expect that you would be here personally,” Hanzo replied as 45 led the way across the airport.

 

“Time is unfortunately shorter than I would like,” The Omnic replied by way of explanation. “We have somewhere to be rather quickly if you truly wish to see what I intend.”

 

“Where are we heading?” 

 

“It will take us several hours to get there.” Was the only response he was given, not that he had truly expected to be simply told.

 

Hanzo sat in silence, merely taking in the direction that they were traveling. They made their way northeastward. The trip took them through the city around the airport, but quickly became long stretches of highway dotted by specs of civilization. They continued into the harsh desert, Hanzo recalling from maps that they were likely headed towards Death Valley.

 

As the heat grew more intense, and the air dryer, they eventually abandoned any marked roads altogether. Setting out into the grand expanse of the inhospitable desert. These wanderings drew them a long distance, though he spotted nothing for a long time. Eventually their destination all but materialized around them, as if from thin air.

 

Four large, slender towers made of dull metal stood around the perimeter of what appeared to be some kind of solar energy farm. A hidden power plant of some kind out in the middle of nowhere in along the edge of California. Though the outside was significantly less impressive than the inside.

 

With nary a word, 45 ushered Hanzo quickly to a large metal blast door that allowed them underground, into the real meat of the facility. They passed through some type of reception office and into a marvel of modern technology. Machines, large and small that all appeared to be doing something or another, perhaps some kind of strange assembly line, surrounded them on all sides. 45 seemed to ignore Hanzo’s brief pause, never breaking their stride through the facility.

 

“What is this place?” Hanzo finally asked as he jogged briefly, to catch back up with the Omnic.

 

“An Omnium,” They replied simply.

 

“I was under the impression that they were all shut down,” Hanzo commented.

 

“It was never quite finished and has been forgotten by everyone but me,” 45 explained. “I haven’t been bothered out here in quite some time.”

 

“It is quite the impressive facility,” Hanzo noted. Even today, the technology on display seemed quite advanced.

 

“I wish I could take more credit for it. Very little of this is directly my work, though the reason we are here is all thanks to my effort,”

 

“Why did you bring me here?”

 

“First I have a question,” Hanzo stared at him, raising an eyebrow, but not objecting. “What would you give to fix the mistakes of your past?” The hypothetical was not what Hanzo had been expecting when it said that it wanted to ask him a question. This seemed silly, but the omnic’s tone was serious.

 

“Anything,” The answer was simple and true. 

 

“Good. Then we are on the same page here,” 

 

“Might I ask what your goals are here? You introduced yourself as an enemy of Talon, which does not necessarily align our paths,” 

 

“I am afraid my answer is less personal than yours,” 45 did not pause in its stride as it spoke. “I have dedicated my life to, among other things, maintaining the peace in the aftermath of the crisis and they seek to undo all of my work. They will plunge the world into war. They will kill countless innocents and this cannot be permitted.”

 

“And you have a plan to stop this?”

 

“Yes, one that has been in the works for some time. One that I need your help to accomplish,” They reached a computer console of some kind that 45 moved to access before Hanzo responded.

 

“I…”  A cough interrupted his response. The air suddenly felt thick. A heaviness settled into his limbs rapidly, his vision clouded before fading to black altogether.

 

Consciousness returned to him all at once, though everything seemed sluggish and it was incredibly difficult to concentrate. He immediately began examining his situation as best he could given the circumstances. He was apparently strapped down, his arms and legs bound, holding him against a metal table. The table was, in turn, surrounded by a circle of thirteen huge, weirdly high tech, mirrors. Some current of energy arced between the tops of the mirrors every several seconds. He began wondering what all of this could mean.

 

“You are finally awake. Good,” 45’s voice pulled him back to reality. 

 

“Where am I?” Hanzo kept his voice calm, despite being bound and relatively helpless at the moment. He would not show weakness.

 

“In the heart of this facility,”

 

“Why am I restrained?”

 

“I apologize for that, but I did not believe that I had enough time to convince you that I was serious and that my plan would work,” 45 did not sound apologetic in the slightest.

 

“So you kidnapped me and expect me to go along with what you want in the future?”

 

“No,” 45 responded simply. “In the past.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about,” Hanzo asked, confused and irritated.

 

“I have devised a method to, with limitations, send an individual into the past,” The Omnic answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“You are crazy,”

 

“That is why I needed to render you unconscious. I did not have time to argue.”

 

“Why?”

 

“There is a limit to how far I can send someone without my equipment frying before it finishes its job. That limit is roughly 12 years,” They continued to explain. “There is a margin of error of about six months on top of that limit. I can absolutely guarantee you will arrive at least 11 years, five months and 12 days ago from whenever I press this button.”

 

“Why is that so important…” Hanzo paused as he realized what those numbers meant to him. If it was still the same day as before he was knocked out. Then he killed Genji 11 years, five months and 11 days ago.

 

“I’m giving you a second chance,” 45 continued as the mechanical sounds and thrums of power in the Omnium mounted higher and higher.

 

“Assuming this will work and is not simply the ravings of a lunatic, Why me? Why not send yourself back?”

 

“Not enough time to explain, but in short it won't work. It will work for you and I am well aware of what you will likely do and how it will further both of our goals.” Suddenly he heard an explosion, shaking the very foundations around them.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I am siphoning most of the power from the western United States in order to successfully send you back. This place is no longer hidden,” A second boom, loud, but apparently not as strong rocked the base. “They seriously think that an EMP will take this place down,” The Omnic shook his head at the implication.

 

“Who is attacking you?”

 

“Right now, the American government worried about a rogue Omnium coming online. Soon it will be other people, including your enemies, but they will all be too late.”

 

“And if this crazy plan of yours does not work?” Hanzo asked irritated.

 

“Then all of my work ends here,” The omnic replied simply. “But it will work and you will thank me when it does.”

 

The energy arcing between the mirrors had been growing brighter and the frequency of the jumps had increased while they spoke. Hanzo tested his bonds, hoping he could get out of them quickly enough to act, though he had no such luck at the moment. As his head cleared he realized that all he needed was enough time to concentrate through the fog in his mind and his dragons would get him out of this situation easily. He could only hope he could manage it soon enough.

 

“If all goes well now, we won’t meet again,”

 

There was a loud click and he was surrounded by a bright blue light. Briefly he felt as if everything was wrong, not in any specific way, just abstractly wrong. For a few moments he was weightless, floating, then he felt himself falling.

 

__________________________________________________

 

He bolted upwards as he regained consciousness, breathing heavily and sweating, as if awakening from a particularly terrible nightmare. The first thing he noticed as his breathing calmed was that did not appear to be in the Omnium that 45 had taken him to. It was not cold and metallic, but rather warm and wooden. 

 

The bed he had awoken in was soft and comfortable and, on second examination, lavish. His surroundings were equally so. It took him longer than he would care to admit to reason out where he was. To his credit though, the correct answer should have been impossible. He found himself back in his own room in the Shimada estate and it took every ounce of discipline he possessed not to freak out.

 

He breathed deeply, calling on the force of will he had trained his entire life for to analyze what was going on logically. He rose from the bed, focusing on the sights, sounds and smells and how they reminded him of Hanamura. Everything about the situation seemed consistent, so he walked across the room to his own personal washroom to find a mirror. The face staring back at him did not surprise him too much, the look of himself as he was over a decade ago. It fit with the rest of what was going on.

 

This had to be a dream. Whatever 45 had done had simply rendered him unconscious and all of that talk of time travel had conditioned him to dream about this. The alternative was impossible. The alternative would truly mean that he was being given a literal second chance to change things for the better. If that was true, he was not really sure what to do. 

 

He had thought about how things could have gone differently, what he could have done differently. All of the regrets, the what-ifs, none of that had actually ever coalesced into any actionable plan. Why would it have? There was no reason for him to ever have thought that something like jumping back into his younger self’s body was even a possibility. Planning for something like this would have been a huge waste of time.

 

Hanzo decided to take a shower, to help calm his nerves, to help keep him focused. His old routine, something he had not done in over a decade came back to him as naturally as breathing. He prepared himself for whatever day ahead he would face. If he was really going to do this he needed to meet nearly impossible standards, but he remembered every step.

 

The hot water helped to wash away the stress, the tension in his muscles. It also allowed him to think. He considered the situation while he cleaned himself as befitting the head of the Shimada clan. This could be a dream, a dream was more likely than having been successfully sent back to fix his mistakes. But, if it was a dream, there was no harm in playing along and if it isn’t he would not want to play along.

 

He exited that shower cleansed of body and decided in purpose. He grabbed his own tablet as he dressed himself meticulously. He checked his schedule and the date. He had killed Genji 29 days in the future from this day. That gave him about a month to figure out exactly how he was going to protect his brother, and himself, from the wrath of the clan. Genji couldn’t simply run away; the clan would never give up searching and he did not want his brother to be on the run for the rest of his life. 

 

There were also other things he wished to change, people he wished to aid. He had made some friends in Overwatch and would like to keep certain bad things from happening, especially if he might help avert the disaster in Zurich. Though most of these ideas seemed to fade away when he let himself think about how he might save Jesse. He would worry about what this meant for their relationship later. Right now he had a brother to save, Jesse was in no immediate danger while he and Genji were.


End file.
